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Text | Jiang Qingxi
Editor|Jiang Qingxi
preface
Do you remember TSMC that went to the United States to build a factory two years ago? At that time, thousands of their backbones dragged their families to the United States, and even pet dogs embarked on flights to the United States.
Unexpectedly, it didn't take long for TSMC to run into big trouble. A few years have passed, the United States has shown its fangs, and now TSMC is in a dilemma, saying that it is false not to regret it.
Recently, there was a news that TSMC found itself miserable after following the United States to build a factory in the United States, and TSMC's senior management collectively requested mainland assistance, hoping that we could help them get through this difficulty.
The former TSMC can be described as dazzling, but since moving to the United States, the new factory lacks a complete supply chain, making the factory not only slow production, but also much higher than in China.
So, why did TSMC, which once moved to the United States with joy, fall into such a field as it is today? What have they experienced in the past few years?
Moved to TSMC in the United States
According to Taiwan media reports on June 26, although TSMC moved its factory to the United States, the relevant supply chain did not move it together.
After arriving in the United States, due to the lack of a complete supply chain, TSMC not only has a slow production schedule, but also has a very high cost.
Employees who happily went to the United States with TSMC now also complain that there is no way to achieve work-life balance.
The data shows that on the US human resources website, less than 30% of people in discussions about TSMC encourage everyone to go there for employment. TSMC, which was originally prosperous, ended up in such a way after just a few years.
As for why TSMC went to the United States, there are many opinions on the Internet, some people think that they moved away driven by interests, and some people say that they were forced to go helplessly.
We don't know what the truth is, but it's most likely both. Why do you say that?
If you think carefully, TSMC can achieve so big and become the world's most advanced chip company, and its leader will not be a brainless, and will definitely consider these problems clearly.
Since this decision was made after thinking, it can only be said that TSMC's move to the United States was driven by interests and coerced by external forces.
I have to say that TSMC's chip technology is indeed very powerful, and their development in this field is even many years earlier than the mainland. It is because of this that the leader of TSMC once said that even if we give us ten trillion, we have no way to make high-end chips.
Although Zhang Zhongmou's words are very uncomfortable, they also reflect the fact that the gap between the mainland and TSMC in the chip field is very large.
For TSMC, they have two big customers, one is the Huawei we know, and the other is the Apple mobile phone in the United States.
Taiwan media revealed that in 2019, Huawei became TSMC's second largest customer, creating 36.1 billion yuan of revenue for TSMC in nearly a year.
However, over the years, the United States has always been very jealous of China, and in order to curb China's development, the United States has begun to take action.
Lao Mei took the lead in extending its claws to Huawei, because Huawei's 5G technology is world-leading, and mobile phone sales once caught up with Apple, which made the United States unbearable.
At that time, the Trump administration used the excuse of "technology network" to impose export controls on Huawei and some of its subsidiaries, preventing Huawei from purchasing components and related technologies from American companies.
Under the pressure of the United States, Huawei's mobile phone sales have been seriously affected, but fortunately it has survived. Under the intervention of the United States, TSMC's largest customer is only Apple Enterprises.
TSMC's "past and present life"
Everyone who has seen the Three Kingdoms should know that there is a saying in it called "giving birth to a son should be like Sun Zhongmou", but for Taiwanese, what makes them more proud and admired is not "Sun Zhongmou", but "Zhang Zhongmou".
Who is Zhang Zhongmou? It can be said that the reason why TSMC was able to achieve its later achievements, Zhang Zhongmou is one of the key figures.
Zhang Zhongmou was born in 1931 in Zhejiang, and when he was a child, he followed his family to many cities because of the war, and his childhood was not too outstanding.
However, Zhang Zhongmou is very smart, he was admitted to Harvard University with excellent grades, and he went to MIT for a master's degree halfway through his studies.
He started working after graduating, and he received two offers, one from Ford and the other from a semiconductor company.
At that time, Zhang Zhongmou wanted to choose Ford, because his major was semiconductor and there was no connection, and Ford Motor was a large company at that time, which was equivalent to a golden rice bowl.
But Ford was paying a dollar less than the semiconductor company called Sylva-nia. After fruitless discussions, Zhang Zhongmou was very angry and turned to Sylvania, where he devoted himself to the semiconductor industry.
In 1958, Zhang Zhongmou came to Texas Instruments and became the first Chinese employee of the company. After working for a while, Zhang Zhongmou felt that his knowledge was not deep enough, and he took the time to go to Stanford to study for a doctorate.
In 1987, under the repeated invitation of the Taiwan Institute of Technology and Research, Zhang Zhongmou came to TSMC. At that time, in order to protect trade secrets, the semiconductor industry had to make its own chips.
But TSMC is a maverick, they only concentrate a little, responsible for wafer foundry production, which not only relieves the manufacturing pressure of chip designers, but also reduces the entry threshold of chip design, bringing great benefits to the development of the chip industry.
Because TSMC does not involve chip design and has no dispute with the world, everyone is willing to let it die, so that there is no need to worry about being stolen.
I have to say that Zhang Zhongmou's vision is indeed very vicious, under his leadership, TSMC's revenue in 1990 exceeded 100 million US dollars.
In 2001, TSMC developed 0.13 micron copper dielectric technology, which completely gained a foothold in the industry. In 2003, they teamed up with ASML to develop "immersion lithography" technology.
In 2009, due to the impact of the financial crisis, Zhang Zhongmou, who had already retired, came out again, placed his bet on the mobile phone market, and began to lead the research on the 28nm process, which was announced in 2011 as a successful mass production.
However, this TSMC, which was originally high and had great development prospects, made a wrong decision, that is, to choose to enter the United States.
TSMC enters the United States
Many people say that if TSMC moves to the United States, it will affect China's development, and these statements do make sense.
When TSMC first moved away, we were affected in many ways, but this was all temporary, because the mainland proved with strength that TSMC was just lifting a rock to shoot itself in the foot.
For TSMC, the mainland was originally an important source of revenue for them, and now it has lost customers of mainland enterprises, and TSMC's earnings have fallen rapidly, which is not for nothing, as can be seen from their quarterly reports, the proportion of decline has basically reached 18%.
When TSMC moved to the United States, firstly, because of the leader's policy, secondly, it hoped to receive the subsidies promised by the United States. But they didn't expect that Lao Mei's subsidy was not so easy to get.
The United States requires TSMC to hand over trade secrets, if it does not hand over trade secrets, it will not get the subsidies originally said, but TSMC that has lost its core technology, is it still called TSMC?
TSMC has always been a leader in the chip industry, but in recent years, due to some policies in the United States, revenue has been seriously affected, and the cooperative relationship with the United States has also appeared unstable factors.
Under this repressive policy, TSMC has no way to cooperate with customers of the Forbidden City, which not only affects TSMC's revenue, but also hinders exchanges and cooperation between memories.
At this point, in order to change the current predicament, TSMC's top management finally realized that he had done something wrong and began to turn to the mainland for support.
Today, the mainland's technology in the field of chips is very advanced, the market demand is also very large, TSMC is not stupid, they know that only the mainland can help them get through the difficulties.
The request of TSMC's top management has aroused everyone's attention, and everyone is shocked by TSMC's situation while also looking forward to the mainland's approach.
TSMC, as a leading enterprise in the chip industry in the past, has come to this point, which is indeed embarrassing, but it is also facing various challenges when it seeks the assistance of the mainland.
At present, the cross-strait situation is complex and changeable, which also makes the process of cooperation between the two sides not easy. To create a mutually beneficial and win-win situation, the two sides also need to work together to jointly promote scientific and technological cooperation.
For TSMC, the current situation is not the end, but a new starting point, if the two sides can smoothly promote cooperation, then TSMC will have the opportunity to further enhance its technical strength and accelerate the pace of innovation. At the same time, the mainland can also rely on the advantages of the other party to achieve industrial upgrading.
epilogue
In order to show "loyalty" to the United States, TSMC jumped into the trap dug by the other side in advance, and although it has now expressed regret, the impact cannot be erased.
Building factories in the United States will inevitably face economic losses, if you want to get subsidies from the United States, then TSMC will be pinched to death, even so, the final subsidy will not necessarily arrive.
We should recognize the true intentions of the United States, not to fall into the trap of others, and to help people with money happily.
Finally, China should also continue to strengthen our own strength, only with strong strength can we grasp a greater right to speak and fight for more rights and interests for the country and the people.